To become an IAS officer was my childhood dream but I achieved it with hard work and smart work, said Jagrati Awasthi, 24, who secured the second rank in the UPSC Civil Services Exam 2020, the result of which was announced on Friday.
A resident of Bhopal, Jagrati Awasthi is a pass out of Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal. She completed her electrical engineering in 2016. After graduation, she cleared the GATE exam and joined BHEL as a technical officer. But in 2019, she decided to fulfil her childhood dream of becoming an IAS officer.
She started her preparation by joining a coaching institute in Delhi but after the spread of Covid 19, she had to return home to Bhopal.
Awsathi said, “Covid 19 and lockdown created an obstacle for me but didn’t stop me. I came back and joined online classes.”
My father, SC Awasthi, a homeopath, and my brother Suyash Awasthi is an MBBS second-year student, helped me in concentrating more on my studies, she added.
“When I started preparation, I used to study 8-10 hours daily. In 2019, I appeared in the exam for the first time but I didn’t clear even prelims. I realized that with hard work, I need to do smart work too. I practiced many questions and am happy that I cleared the exam in the second attempt,” she added.
{{/usCountry}}“When I started preparation, I used to study 8-10 hours daily. In 2019, I appeared in the exam for the first time but I didn’t clear even prelims. I realized that with hard work, I need to do smart work too. I practiced many questions and am happy that I cleared the exam in the second attempt,” she added.
{{/usCountry}}Jagrati gave credit for her success to her mother Madhulata Awasthi as she left the job to help her in her studies.
“My parents didn’t watch TV for the past four years as firstly my parents wanted my brother to clear NEET and later for my studies. Even they used to talk over the phone outside the house and hardly used to share any personal news. My mother was a school teacher but she left her job for helping us in studies,” she added.
When I was not selected in my first attempt, I was a little depressed but my mother said don’t curse your luck but do more hard work. She was right, I finally got success said Jagrati. Now, Jagrati wants to do work for rural development as an IAS officer.